Other Sports

Ducks hold off Wild for 8th straight home win

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Teemu Selanne scored his 669th NHL goal, Jonas Hiller made 31 saves, and the Anaheim Ducks held off Minnesota’s late surge and beat the Wild 3-2 on Friday night for their eighth straight win at home.

Captain Ryan Getzlaf and Matt Beleskey also scored for the streaking Ducks, who have won eight of nine and 12 of 14 despite barely holding on to their 3-0 lead over Minnesota after two periods.

Anaheim (15-3-1) has the NHL’s second-best record behind Chicago, and hasn’t lost at Honda Center since its home opener on Jan. 25. The Ducks are off to the best start in franchise history, surpassing their 13-2-4 start during their only Stanley Cup championship season in 2006-07.

Kyle Brodziak and Devin Setoguchi scored third-period goals for Minnesota, which lost for just the second time in six games.

Darcy Kuemper stopped 26 shots in his third NHL start for the Wild, who played an outstanding third period on the back end of back-to-back games following a road win in Phoenix.

Despite a third period tilted decidedly toward Minnesota, the Ducks got off to another strong start to March after tying the franchise record with 11 victories in February.

Less than five minutes in, Kyle Palmieri got the puck to Perry, whose drive to the net was easily tapped in by Getzlaf for his seventh goal. Getzlaf, who managed just 11 goals in 82 games last season, already has 22 points in 19 games.

Selanne and Bobby Ryan then teamed up for a beautiful goal, with Selanne skating into the slot and splitting two defenders with a precise backhand after Ryan drew the defense’s attention. The 42-year-old Finnish Flash broke a tie with Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille for 11th place in NHL goal-scoring history.

Minnesota played much better in the second period, but Hiller made a handful of stellar saves before Beleskey widened the Ducks’ lead with his fourth goal on a heads-up play. Beleskey poked the puck through Kuemper’s legs after the goalie barely stopped Daniel Winnik’s deflected shot on the goal line.

Brodziak ended Hiller’s shutout bid when an Anaheim clearing attempt ricocheted off the glass straight to him. His slap shot caught the post behind Hiller, who was screened, for his second goal of the season.

Setoguchi then trimmed the Ducks’ lead to one goal with a slap shot through traffic, putting it between Ducks defenseman Luca Sbisa’s legs and finding a sliver of net with 9:23 to play. Minnesota got a power play with 3:17 left and pulled Kuemper for a 6-on-4 advantage in the final 30 seconds, but couldn’t get anything past Hiller.

NOTES: Perry extended his scoring streak to seven games, while Getzlaf has scored in five straight. … The Wild scratched young C Mikael Granlund in favor of enforcer Zenon Konopka. D Justin Falk sat in favor of Nate Prosser. Konopka fought Anaheim’s Patrick Maroon in a lengthy bout in the second period. … Anaheim scratched Sheldon Souray for the first time this season, giving a maintenance day to the veteran defenseman before a heavy schedule of games. … Minnesota LW Jason Zucker played his 12th NHL game. The NHL’s only Las Vegas product was born in nearby Newport Beach, Calif., where many current Ducks live.